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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Rolfe who wrote (17577)	3/12/1998 3:05:00 AM
From: Marc Trombella	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Not sure if this article has been posted already. Doesn't seem to negative on AMAT though. Semiconductor Capital Spending Will Drop In 1998 (03/11/98; 9:31 a.m. EST) By Staff, Semiconductor Business News Semiconductor capital spending will drop 12 percent to 14 percent worldwide in 1998 compared with last year because of steeper-than-expected cuts in Japan, according to Morgan Stanley & Co., which presented a newly revised forecast before its Semiconductor Capital Equipment Conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif. The 12 percent to 14 percent drop in spending on semiconductor production systems compares with the company's previously released forecast of a 7 percent to 10 percent decline. Reduced capital spending budgets by Japanese chip makers was blamed for the downgraded outlook. Morgan Stanley said it now projects semiconductor capital spending in Japan to decline 14 percent from last year, based on yen value. Based on U.S. dollar revenues, the drop in Japan will be 24 percent, according to the new forecast. The company also said it believes Motorola will cut back its semiconductor capital investment in 1998 from its originally estimated $2.5 billion, though the revised lower total won't be set until April. "Besides Motorola, other North American-based chip makers will likely trim 1998 capital spending plans, given the recent weakness in PC sales," according to the Morgan Stanley forecast. "Nonetheless, we expect North American capital spending to still be up 10 percent, although this could slip to a mid-single digit increase." The investment analyst company said it estimated that Applied Materials' 1998 calendar year revenues would slip 2 percent from 1997 levels. It forecast IPEC in Phoenix would have earnings of about 10 cents a share for the fiscal quarter ending March 31, but said this could slip to about 6 cents a share if the supplier of chemical mechanical planarization equipment supplier cannot get a letter of credit to ship systems to Anam Industrial's new fab in South Korea.